- ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH the chief officer or prime minister of state of
Candace (q.v.), queen of Ethiopia. He was converted to Christianity
through the instrumentality of Philip (Act 8:27). The northern portion of
Ethiopia formed the kingdom of Meroe, which for a long period was ruled
over by queens, and it was probably from this kingdom that the eunuch
came. - ETHIOPIAN WOMAN the wife of Moses (Numbers 12:1). It is
supposed that Zipporah, Moses’ first wife (Exodus 2:21), was now dead.
His marriage of this “woman” descended from Ham gave offence to Aaron
and Miriam. - EUNICE happily conquering, the mother of Timothy, a believing Jewess,
but married to a Greek (Acts 16:1). She trained her son from his childhood
in the knowledge of the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15). She was
distinguished by her “unfeigned faith.” - EUNUCH literally bed-keeper or chamberlain, and not necessarily in all
cases one who was mutilated, although the practice of employing such
mutilated persons in Oriental courts was common (2 Kings 9:32; Esther
2:3). The law of Moses excluded them from the congregation
(Deuteronomy 23:1). They were common also among the Greeks and
Romans. It is said that even to-day there are some in Rome who are
employed in singing soprano in the Sistine Chapel. Three classes of
eunuchs are mentioned in Matthew 19:12. - EUODIAS a good journey, a female member of the church at Philippi. She
was one who laboured much with Paul in the gospel. He exhorts her to be
of one mind with Syntyche (Phil. 4:2). From this it seems they had been at
variance with each other. - EUPHRATES Hebrew, Perath; Assyrian, Purat; Persian cuneiform,
Ufratush, whence Greek Euphrates, meaning “sweet water.” The Assyrian
name means “the stream,” or “the great stream.” It is generally called in the
Bible simply “the river” (Exodus 23:31), or “the great river”
(Deuteronomy 1:7).
The Euphrates is first mentioned in Genesis 2:14 as one of the rivers of
Paradise. It is next mentioned in connection with the covenant which God
entered into with Abraham (15:18), when he promised to his descendants
the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates (comp.